Saw

Hand saws

Hacksaw

• 2 types:
  • Junior hacksaw, 6" blades
  • Other one, 12" blades & other sizes

Mitre Saw

• Wood is clamped to the base
• Frame guides saw blade, keeping it at the chosen angle
• Small captive handsaw of some type cuts the timber
• Quite different to the electric mitre saw

Floorboard Saw

• Has additional teeth on the top side in an arc near the end
• Can saw into floorboards in situ

Toolbox Saw

• Shorter version of jack saw
• Fits in toolboxes

Jack Saw

• General purpose building saw
• Cuts timber, aerated concrete

Bow Saw

• Sawing tree branches
• The coarse peg teeth usually used cut on both strokes

Pullsaw

• Cut on the pull stroke
• Blade thinner than pushsaws
• Less effort for given progress than pushsaws

Keyhole Saw

• Very narrow blade

Two-man saw

• aka pit saw
• Long slightly curved blade with a handle on each end
• Double the sawing power
• Very long stroke

Wire saw

• Flexible wire with a handle on each end
• Mostly used for veterinary uses (bones, horns)
• Exceptionally good access properties for difficult cuts
• Not expensive
• You wont get them from DIY suppliers

Power Saws

Jigsaw

• Low cutting speed
• Can cut curves
• Steer by rotating the saw, never push sideways
• Quality varies greatly
• Cheap & midrange jigsaws:
  • Performance generally anything from patchy to dire
  • Blades wander & bend badly
  • Cost of ruined wood over the lifetime of a cheap or midrange jigsaw is likely to exceed the cost of a better saw
  • Not possible to cut a straight line using a guide fence, as they need regular direction correction
• Good jigsaws:
  • Constrain the blade with rollers
  • Can cut straight lines
  • Much less prone to blade bending, but not immune
• Various types of blade available:
  • Coarse, medium, fine
  • Blades for wood, metal, plastic, leather, paper products
  • Flush cutting
  • Knife
  • Grit
  • Varying pitch

Circular saw

• Fast cutting
• Cuts straight lines only
• Good general purpose DIY saw
• Riving knife prevents kickback
• Blades with high number of teeth can produce very smooth cuts
• Normally supplied with a guide fence
• Depth of cut and angle can be preset
• Max possible cutting depth is less with angled cuts

Mitre Saw etc

• aka compound mitre saw:
• Circular saw blade
• Cutting head swivels to cut at various angles
• Cutting head tilts to give cuts angled in 2 axes
• Plastic bases found on budget machines bend slightly under force, misaligning cuts.
• Pushing the saw can violently shatter the fence with some budget machines

Sliding Mitre saw

Mitre saw with cutting head that slides to cut wider timber

Flipsaw

• Mitre saw with a sawhead that flips over to give either a mitre saw or benchsaw

Chop Saw

• Look somewhat like mitre saws, but with no angle adjustments
• Cuts at precisely 90 degrees
• Workpiece clamp included
• Abrasive grit blade usually used
• Primarily used on metalwork

Scroll Saw

• Vibrating blade can be touched without injury
• Modern version of fretsaw

Spiral saw

• eg Rotozip
• Can plunge eolid materials then drill in any direction
• Can not withstand a lot of side force
• Die grinders can use 1/8" spiral saw blades, but such thin blades are not robust
• Spiral saws taking 1/8" blades may also take die grinder accessories - check speed ratings

Table saw

• Circular blade
• Fast feed rate
• Plastic or wood pushers are used to keep hands away from blade

Bandsaw

• Coarse, fine and omnidirectional blades available

Handheld Bandsaw

• A miniature hand held version of a band saw
• No idea about its strengths and weaknesses, anyone used one?

Tile saw

• Miniature table saw with diamond grit tile blade
• Water cooled blade
• Replacing the blade might allow it to do other jobs too

Reciprocating saw

• Powered version of jack saw or hacksaw

Chainsaw

• Relatively high risk saw
• Protective clothing is wise
• Basic training is wise
• Correct type of oil important
• Blade should not contact soil

Reviews

Mitre saws

To Do

Plywood saw Rip saw Saw set

See Also

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